Oh honey, all mothers are guilty of something

Allison is an inspiring writer who moves to
L. A. in hopes her life will all fall into place. Shes spent the last few years drenched in the grief of her brother’s untimely and unexpected death, forcing her to deal with her unpredictable parent’s feelings on her own. Shes ready to be her own person again, no longer tied to the twister that is her families emotions. But there is something so isolating in L. A. and her brother’s life and death keep coming back to her. After a chance encounter with famed radio personnel Reid Steinman, Allison becomes enticed by his spell. Quickly falling in step with each other’s lives, Allison never admits to Reid that he’s both her brother and dad’s comedic idol. Allison gets so entangled she befriends Reid’s daughter forcing her to balance her romantic feelings for Reid and a gnawing passionate desire for his daughter.

First time, long time is a gruelingly relatable tale of trying to find yourself after living your life for everyone, but your self. It’s about taking up space of your own instead of shrinking yourself to uplift those around you. The stories are pragmatic and clever leading you to empathize with the characters. I very much enjoyed this read, the flashbacks read seamlessly to me braiding the present with the past.
This is a perfect meditation on depression and how it’s passed through generations especially while untreated. We see so many slices of Allison’s life until finally she is a whole person.

I recommend this book to readers who love messy characters, familial dramas, books by Melissa broader and Anna Dorn.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found FIRST TIME, LONG TIME to be such a fun and refreshing read, and the writing felt thoughtful and genuine to me. I enjoyed groundedness and believability of the story and exploring the world through the main character Allison's eyes. Leading women's book club and teaching writing at a college, Allison's life feels murky... stuck creatively and professionally and still grieving the loss of her brother. She somehow finds herself sitting next to the radio host personality she listened to all the time as a kid with her dad. She likes who she is and how she feels around him and is able to connect to a different part of herself. I also really liked the specific observations about life that are sprinkled throughout the book. Looking forward to reading the author's future work.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Allison is feeling a bit aimless. She’s grieving the loss of her brother, she’s stopped writing, and she’s sporadically in touch with her parents. When she meets the charismatic Reid at a bar (yes, the very famous radio show host she grew up listening to), her life begins to change.

An absolute delight. The writing is lovely and thoughtful and Allison is a charming and compelling character to follow. I enjoyed her inner monologues and was fascinated by her decision making. This is a funny, tender, and hopeful exploration of loneliness, loss, and putting yourself back together and I loved it!

Highly recommended, especially to fans of literary fiction and character-driven stories.

Thank you very much to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This book was a big no for me. There wasn't much story- a lot of things weren't explained and there was a lot of timeline bouncing for seemingly no reason. I couldn't get into it at all.

This book was just - a mess. And probably not in the way the author may have intended.

I've read my fair share of frustrating book, but this one in particular had me stretching out the crevices of my face. The pacing, specifically, is abysmal. Not only did it take approximately seventy percent for the synopsis to start kicking in, but the story was constantly interrupted with so. much. backstory. Despite Allison being so dodgy and unwilling to share her past with anyone, she internally thinks about it constantly. The primary subjects of these flashbacks are her asshole dad and brother, and these flashbacks to the times she spent with them did not earn any endearment or empathy from me. If anything, the more the story was cut off by these flashbacks, the more I yearned to unlearn literacy.

What made reading this worse were the scene breaks. The scene beaks typically are used to time passing, or changing the scene/characters to another part of the story. That is not the case in this book. Scene breaks were constant, especially to the aforementioned flashbacks. But then there were others that would break only to return to the exact same scene. It was maddening. I felt like I was being dragged around with my nails in the dirt, trying to hold on to some semblance of plot for dear life when there wasn't one. The way this choice of writing has left me baffled beyond words - I just hated it so much.

I didn't laugh once. If anything, the prose was stilted, dry, and lacked any of the wit the premise claimed it had. Me slamming my head into a wall repeatedly would be more comedic than anything inside this book.

The characters here just sucked. The whole triangle between Allison, Reid, and Emma felt so gross to read through, and the way it ended so unceremoniously made the whole debacle more pointless. (Allison was prolonging dumping Reid when she and Emma got together, but she didn't have to tell Reid anything because it turned out he and the driver were together! She and Emma did get together, but it wasn't exciting enough for Emma without her daddy in the mix. They broke up, Allison got with Chris, some random co-worker periodically mentioned throughout the story, and then she married him in the last chapter. Mind you, the last chapters where all this happened read like a Sparknotes summary. What was the point of this story at all if you're gonna end it like that?) There were, like, four major characters (Allison, Emma, Reid, and Allison's dad), and their whole personalities can be summarized as serious daddy issues or typical self-centered man. Cardboard has more depth and dimension than this cast.

All in all, I will be giving my thanks to the publisher for the chance to review this book, but I will not be reading anything of Silverberg's in the future.

The writing in this novel was engaging and ultimately pulled me through the book. I found the pacing to be all over the place. We don't really get to the synopsis of the book until about 65% of the way in and I found that from there it felt strange and rushed .The last few chapters especially seemed to cram a lot in there. I do love mess though!!! And a lost protagonist. I enjoyed those aspects.

3.5/5., rounded up. This was an enjoyable read with messy characters (in a fun way). The pacing however was a little off at times, especially near the end when it felt like there was more to explore in some of the relationships. Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

Allison is a college professor and at the age of 28, her mother is being very annoying about her singleness. Allison is a relatable character, she has other side hustles like facilitating book clubs. She met Reid at a bar, he is close to her father’s age. He is a successful shock jock and inspired by Howard Stern. She teaches creating writing and is a writer herself. Allison’s divorced parents are interesting side characters.

I struggled with how to rate this- some of the lines of dialogue are so purely and cleverly written. This is true witty banter and a “slice of life” story. Amy Silverberg is a talented writer and has keen observations of life. My favorite character is Reid’s daughter Emma (she is incorrectly called Maddie in the blurb).

In the acknowledgements she mentions that this started as a 30 page short story and damn I bet that was amazing. I kept thinking “this would work better as a short story” as it was a strangely paced story. Also the blurb gives away a LOT of the story that doesn’t happen until 66% through the novel.

Like many of my favorite short stories, it ends with just an image, rather than a conclusion of plot. If you are looking for a lot of plot, you will likely be disappointed; but if you love observational dialogue, this is some of the best I’ve read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC. Book to be published July 22, 2025.

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

This novel tells the story of a young woman who begins dating her dad's favorite radio show host (who spends his time talking about having sex with women and, as the book constantly reminds us, is short) but later starts seeing his daughter as well. The book doesn't have great pacing as most of the story progresses unceremoniously in the last three or four chapters. Still, I found that I had quite a fun time reading the book and it is a very easy read. I'd recommend it if you like a woe-is-me protagonist or if you're looking for something easy to add to your reading list!

this book haunted me lmao it was messy, magnetic, and laced with the kind of aching loneliness that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. it’s about grief, identity, and what happens when you spend too much time as a supporting character in everyone else’s story.

Allison moves to L.A. hoping for a fresh start, but instead, she ends up entangled with two people: Reid Steinman, a legendary radio DJ and a living reminder of her late brother, and Maddie, Reid’s sharp, enigmatic daughter, who shares a little too much DNA with Allison’s past. the result? a slow-burning, tension-packed love triangle that feels equal parts thrilling and so, so bad for her. but yet—you can’t look away. thia book has vibes. It’s late-night radio stations, longing stares across dimly lit rooms, and that bittersweet feeling of wanting something you know isn’t good for you. it doesn’t just explore love and loss; it digs into the uncomfortable reality of trying to carve out your own identity when you’ve spent years living in the gravitational pull of other people. can you really move forward when the past is still writing your script?

if you love books about complicated women making emotionally questionable choices, characters who are equal parts magnetic and deeply flawed, and a story that leaves you staring at the ceiling feeling things—this one’s for you.

5 stars and a half for the imaginary Spotify playlist i desperately need.

I just don't think this one for me so I will leave it off my goodreads. I didn't connect with any of the characters and the story wasn't that interesting to me. I'm open to trying future novels by this author, but this one just wasn't for me. That said, I know there are readers who this absolutely will work for and I'm happy this author is getting to publish something she clearly worked very hard on!

First Time, Long Time is my ideal storyline - queer, sexy, and full of daddy issues - but the bouncing between past and present day, sometimes within a page or two and often mid scene - was difficult to follow. It took me out of the moment trying to remember where I left off. I think fans of Green Dot by Madeleine Grey would like First Time, Long Time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advance reader copy.

A young writer falls for her father’s idol and then his adult daughter.

I really enjoyed the constant internal dialogue and realistic, yet witty conversation. It allows the reader to feel they really understand the main character and to empathize with them throughout out the story. The flashbacks are also seamlessly and thoughtfully woven through the book in a way that creates a bit of mystery and intrigue. While this book took a few chapters to hook me, I ultimately loved it and would recommend to those into contemporary fiction.

A very captivating story and a main character that is written so well. I enjoyed this book and thought the way the author expresses grief throughout was enthralling. I liked how the story flowed and wasn't bored during this title at all. I'd suggest bookclubs take a look at it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

2.5 stars. I thought the idea was interesting, but there just wasn’t a lot of story. They didn’t really start sneaking around until the last ~25%.
Also some things that I wish had been explained more. I thought Allison was likable, but I didn’t really think anyone else was. I wasn’t super invested in anyone’s story.

“First Time, Long Time” by Amy Silverberg is a novel that explores various forms of relationships—those between parents and children, divorced couples, siblings, friends, and romantic partners, among others.

The protagonist, Allison, is a late-twenties creative writing teacher who is struggling to cope with the sudden loss of her comedian brother. She unexpectedly meets Reid, a famous shock jock radio personality she grew up listening to with her dad. In person, Reid turns out to be much softer than she expected, and a relationship begins to develop between them.

Despite their age difference, things seem to be progressing well. Allison even forms a friendship with Reid’s daughter, Emma. Throughout the story, readers witness Allison grappling with her grief, navigating complicated family dynamics, and pursuing her writing aspirations, all while becoming increasingly drawn to Emma.

Fans of flawed protagonists will likely appreciate this novel. If you enjoyed Jen Beagin’s "Big Swiss," this book will probably resonate with you! Thank you to Grand Central and NetGalley for the advance reader's copy (ARC).